Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan joined the Palestinians in condemning a far-right Israeli minister’s writing on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, with Palestinian leaders calling the intrusion an “unprecedented provocation. “
Most likely, on Tuesday through Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, it will stoke tensions with the Palestinians, and the Hamas organization that regulates the besieged Gaza Strip warns that such a move would cross a “red line. “
Ben-Gvir, who set his sights on Islam’s third holiest site under tight security, said: “Our government will not give in to Hamas’ threats.
Israel’s far-right leader has long called for more Jews at the holy site, which Palestinians perceive as a provocation and a possible precursor to Israel’s total takeover of the compound. Chief rabbis forbid Jews to pray at the site.
Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter after his stopover that the site “is open to everyone and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me, it will deter me, they perceive that times have changed. “
– איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) January 3, 2023
Ofir Gendelman, who has long been Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, posted a video saying “the stage is absolutely calm” at the shrine after Ben-Gvir’s departure.
The scale in seems to have been calculated for a direct confrontation with the Palestinians, as it arrived early in the morning and a day after Ben-Gvir gave the impression of backtracking on his plans, so he gathered the Palestinians at the site.
However, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns the assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Minister Ben-Gvir and considers it an unprecedented provocation and escalation of the conflict. “
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on Palestinians to “confront raids on Al Aqsa Mosque. “He accused Ben-Gvir of organizing the attempt to turn the shrine “into a Jewish temple. “
Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which have peace treaties with Israel, condemned what they called Ben-Gvir’s Al-Aqsa “assault. “in Jerusalem. “
Saudi Arabia, with which Netanyahu needs to reach a peace deal, also criticized Ben-Gvir’s action. Turkey, which recently ended a long-running diplomatic spat with Israel, also condemned it as “provocative. “
And Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said any violation of the prestige quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque for decades could lead to an explosion in the region, only within the Palestinian territories.
Asked about the visit, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council said any unilateral action that jeopardizes the quo of Jerusalem’s holy sites is unacceptable.
“The United States strongly supports maintaining the prestige quo regarding the holy sites in Jerusalem,” the spokesman said, adding that the United States calls on Netanyahu to maintain his commitment to the prestige quo of the holy sites.
The UN secretary-general also stressed the importance of maintaining the prestige quo at holy sites, according to UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Netanyahu issued a delay on Tuesday saying he “is committed to strictly maintaining the prestige quo, unchanged, on the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa compound]. “
Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid warned Monday that Ben-Gvir’s planned access to the compound would lead to violence and would be a “deliberate provocation that will endanger lives. “
Ben-Gvir was sworn in last week as part of a new far-right government led by Netanyahu.
? : https://t. co/BUIBlEFxqF pic. twitter. com/bZB6iZgBDi
– Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 3, 2023
In the complex, the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina, Muslim worship is only allowed under the prestige quo. Israel’s far right has tried to replace that and allow Jewish prayer at the site, despite opposition from many ultra-Orthodox Jews. and a ban on the most sensible rabbis.
Many far-right Israelis have for the structure of a Jewish temple instead of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The accession of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2000 triggered the moment of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Sara Khairat of Al Jazeera, who reports from occupied East Jerusalem, Ben-Gvir spent little time in the compound “in the early hours of the morning. “
“This is a wonder because of the provocation it would cause, especially among Palestinians and the Muslim world,” Khairat said.
“[Ben-Gvir] also has broad powers over the police, so [it’s] unexpected that this resolution [to enter the Al-Aqsa compound] happens very quickly.
“We will expect a lot of tension from the Palestinians. Security among Israelis has already been tightened.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera that Ben-Gvir’s resolution “is a continuation of the aggression of the Zionist occupation, our sanctity and its war, its Arab identity.
“Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain Palestinian, Arab and Islamic property, and no fascist force or user can replace this fact,” he said.
Analyst Nasser al-Hidmi told Al Jazeera from Jerusalem that he believed “this raid is a stunt” to demonstrate “the sovereignty of the profession over Al-Aqsa Mosque and that the new government does not bow to threats from Palestinian armed resistance movements. “.
“There was an agreement between [Ben-Gvir] and Netanyahu, a discussion, that the raid would take a position in this way to demonstrate sovereignty and avoid provoking the Palestinians in Jerusalem,” al-Hidmi said.
“[The raid] took place at a time when there were few Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and lasted thirteen minutes. All this is an expression of Ben-Gvir’s fears.
Ben-Gvir has far-right perspectives towards the Palestinians and has called for their displacement. It has joined Israeli settlers to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which has led to clashes with Palestinians in the past.
Israeli forces stormed the compound in May 2021, leading to a clash with Palestinians that prompted Israel to attack Gaza that same month.
Ben-Gvir also foresaw a wave of escalation in occupied East Jerusalem after setting up a workplace in February in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where Palestinians face mass eviction.
A settler in Kiryat Araba — one of the top-right settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank, which is not identified under foreign law — Ben-Gvir convicted of inciting racism, destroying property, possessing propaganda for a “terrorist” organization from curtains and supporting a “terrorist” organization, Meir Kahane’s banned Kach organization, which he joined at the age of 16.
Ben-Gvir is also known for posting on his wall a photo of Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli American who massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in 1994.
Last November, Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned in an audio leak that “the whole world is concerned” about Ben-Gvir’s views.
Al-Hidmi said that in the coming year, one can expect “more extremism and more violations against the other Palestinian peoples and their holy sites. “
“Hamas and the armed teams in Gaza are not interested in entering into a new relationship with the occupation, but they are interested in mobilizing the West Bank. It is transparent that the West Bank is susceptible to this orientation, which worries the occupation.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Tariq Selmi told Al Jazeera that “the resistance is completely ready and vigilant. “
“He conducts a continuous evaluation of everything that happens, delivers the cause of the action. The bullets of our fighters in Jenin and Nablus will inevitably succeed in Jerusalem,” Selmi said.